Gold prospecting can be a hobby, and for some lucky individuals, a highly rewarding way to make a living. Regardless, it is essential to understand what methods work and what are the right ones for your project. Indeed, not all of them are as efficient, and some are more appropriate for beginners, while others for seasoned prospectors.
The five gold prospecting methods that work are:
- Gold panning
- Sluice boxes
- Suction Dredges
- Metal detectors
- Dry washers
Check out below what each method entails, how efficient it is, and how to get started looking for gold in no time.
Table of Contents
1. Gold Panning
Arguably the oldest, and most traditional method of gold prospecting, panning, can yield great results. However, this strategy can be quite time-consuming, and it is only ideal for examining and extracting gold from limited quantities of streambed material.
Additionally, until you have mastered this technique, it can take quite some time to separate the black sand and shoveled material from any potential gold. Gold particles will naturally sink to the pan’s bottom during the process. However, it is not uncommon to lose some of the grains inadvertently if you are not careful.
Ultimately, this method is ideal for amateurs who practice gold prospecting as a recreational activity and are not willing to invest much in machinery. However, since it is easy to use, carry, and transport, gold panning is the most straightforward gold prospecting method, regardless of your level of proficiency or experience.
How It Works
Gold panning is a simple process that requires a little patience and an adequate gold pan.
All in all, it is pretty simple: you just need to add the streambed material onto the pan and let some water from the stream onto it. Once that’s done, you start shaking the pan to separate the lighter materials from the heavier materials.
During this process, the gold particles — being heavier than the other materials — will sink to the bottom or remain trapped in the riffles. As such, as long as no material escapes the pan, you can and should move the pan rather aggressively, to ensure that the heavier materials get a chance to sink to the bottom.
Then, at regular intervals, you wash out the lighter top layer by submerging the pan into the water, and then quickly raising it. The lighter material will then follow the water on its way out the pan, and hopefully, the heavier materials will remain in the pan.
Then you repeat this step until very little material is left in the pan.
Once you have perhaps half a cup of material left, you add some water and start to gently swirl the pan. The gold, which is the heaviest material in the pan, will then remain mostly at the top, while the lighter materials will follow the swirling water movements much more easily.
For more information on how to use a gold pan, we recommend our complete guide to gold panning.
2. Sluice Boxes
Sluice boxes are affordable tools that can help you process a much higher quantity of streambed materials than simply panning it. These devices will increase the chances of recovering more gold particles while reducing the possibility of losing them in the process.
Sluice boxes are ideal for amateurs on a limited budget, yet they are just as popular among expert gold prospectors. Indeed, the simple mechanism is highly efficient in processing more material, speeding up the process up to 200 times.
How It Works
Sluice boxes are three-sided containers that boast riffles along the bottom edge and a wider entrance at the other end. They often also have rubber mats and mesh-nets to trap and retain the gold flowing through it.
Here’s how it works:
- Once you have enough running water flowing through the device, you’ll want to pour the collected streambed material through the entrance and let the gravel run through the body of the sluice box.
- After you have processed the material you had collected, remove the device from the stream, and rinse each component into a bucket.
- The concentration remaining from the sluice box will need to be processed again through the panning process.
You will find yourself having to pan only the heavier black sand and potential gold particles by coupling up these two methods, which saves tremendous amounts of time!
To increase the efficiency of a sluice box, you should ensure that the water is flowing through it at a sufficient speed so that the gold traps are continuously rinsed from lighter materials.
A rule of thumb is that the device should preferably be at an angle of 5° to 7° compared to the surface of the stream, although the most important parameter is the actual speed of the water flow.
3. Suction Dredges
Suction dredges are essentially vacuum cleaners powerful enough to suck in rocks, gravel, gold nuggets, and other materials from the streambed. These machines are often gas-powered and, thanks to their long tubes, are ideal for reaching inside crevices, irregularities, and gold traps.
Suction dredges are less popular among amateurs due to the investment required, but are often appreciated by small-scale miners. Indeed, their two-stroke engines go a long way to optimize the efforts of gold miners and prospectors.
How It Works
Materials – including sand and gravels – from the streambed are sucked into a tube. It then hits a header box, which is used to dampen the rush of water so that it can flow evenly into the sluice box which is installed onboard.
The lighter materials are then washed away, while the heavier materials get captured in the sluice box. Prospectors can then further process these materials through another device, such as a gold pan.
4. Metal Detectors
Using a metal detector is arguably one of the most popular methods of electronic gold prospecting. Indeed, several different kinds of mineral/metal detectors can help you achieve your gold mining goals.
The best detector for you widely depends on the area you are examining — and it is worth noting that no two sites are the same.
However, aside from picking the right detector, it is also essential to learn how to tune it and get it ready for the area’s characteristics. Such detectors are easy to use and can be highly efficient in discovering silver or gold deposits in the ground.
How It Works
The most common types of metal/mineral detectors used for gold prospecting are Beat Frequency Oscillator (BFO) and Very Low Frequency (VLF).
The first type allows you to pick between two search modes: metals (ideal for gold and silver) and minerals. However, this model is not as technologically advanced as the second one. When the search coil runs over a target, the detector will produce a sound. It is highly recommended that you use headphones while running these detectors.
On the flip side, a VLF detector can cancel out any interference and help you discover valuable materials such as gold. These machines will see through highly-mineralized grounds and focus on metal objects.
Ultimately, detectors will work only if the gold sediments are close enough to the surface and substantial enough to be identified.
5. Dry Washers
Dry-washing is an alternative method to mine gold, predominantly used in desert placers or arid sites where water-operated machines would not be efficient due to the absence of nearby water bodies. This strategy uses vibrations to separate the gold from gravels and sand.
How It Works
Dry-washing is only useful if the material processed is entirely dry. Typically, this method is not efficient in recovering the finest particles of gold, since they weigh less and therefore are lost more easily in the process.
The machine and equipment used to dry-wash are relatively simple and have not changed much over the years. These devices are often hand-operated and create a vibration that slowly separates the gold from the rest of the materials.
Conclusion
In large-scale operations, or to extract gold deposits too deep to find with the methods below, miners might use drilling and trenching processes. However, these strategies are highly expensive and not suitable for recreational gold prospecting.
Instead, if you are looking to improve your chances of finding gold on your next trip, panning, sluice boxes, and metal detectors are easy-to-implement tools.
Alternatively, for more expert prospectors looking at perhaps one day making a living out of this hobby, investing in a suction dredge can increase the chances of finding and retaining gold.